June 2, 2012 4:59pm EDTJune 2, 2012 2:01pm EDTCurtis Drake has been removed from Penn State's roster, and he says it was because of poor academics.

Staff report

Published on Jun. 2, 2012

Jun. 2, 2012

Penn State has removed Curtis Drake from the team, coach Bill O’Brien announced Friday, the same day he also announced that Matt McGloin would be the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback.

O’Brien did not disclose why Drake is no longer in the team’s plans, though the player told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the reason was for poor academic performance.

Drake was involved in a scuffle with McGloin last December, an incident that left the QB with a concussion after he fell and hit his head. McGloin was unable to play in the team’s bowl TicketCity Bowl game against Houston because of it.

"I'm not sure if people think (coach O'Brien) kicked me off the team or he made it seem like that, but that's not what it was," he told the newspaper. "I couldn't play because of the NCAA. He came in and explained the situation. I let him know I was still going to be here taking classes."

Drake, who has broken his left leg the past two years, told the newspaper he’ll be in summer school trying to improve his grades and then seeing a specialist about his leg. He had moved from wide receiver to cornerback this past spring.

Drake had 102 yards receiving and 52 yards rushing in limited action last year for Penn State.